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Anna Getty may have renounced U.S. citizenship

Another heir to the Getty oil fortune, Anna Getty, has cut permanent ties to the U.S. and may have renounced her citizenship, according to a government report published Thursday.

As the U.S. presidential campaign is rife with debate over issues of tax fairness, the name of the 39-year-old actress, cookbook writer and prominent organic living aficionado has appeared on a new Internal Revenue Service list of U.S. taxpayers who have renounced their citizenship, often for tax reasons.

Getty was described by Forbes magazine in 2007 as one of the world's 20 most intriguing billionaire heiresses, largely for her work on green living. She is the stepdaughter of the late J. Paul Getty III, a scion of the Getty oil clan who led a notably troubled and tragic life. He was kidnapped in 1973, at age 17, and had an ear cut off by his captors. His father, John Paul Getty Jr., paid a $2.2 million ransom to secure his son's release. The son developed a serious drug habit, suffering an overdose and stroke in 1981 that left him paralyzed until his death last year at age 54.

In recent decades, a handful of members of the Getty clan are believed to have renounced their U.S. citizenship for tax reasons. At least seven, including Anna Getty's stepfather, obtained Irish nationality under an investments-for-passports type scheme that has since been abolished, according to Irish press reports.

The list of American taxpayers who have renounced citizenship is published quarterly by the IRS in accordance with a federal law passed in 1996. However, a tax attorney who closely tracks the filings said not everyone on it is, in fact, a U.S. citizen. Some are long-term U.S. residents who have surrendered their green cards, again, usually for tax reasons, according to Andrew Mitchel, a Connecticut-based tax lawyer.

Under U.S. law, renouncing U.S. citizenship or residency for tax reasons can make it more difficult to return to the U.S. as a visitor, but that restriction has never been enforced, Mitchel said.

Whether Anna Getty was a U.S. citizen, is unclear. She was born in Germany but came to the U.S. at a young age and lived in San Francisco. She later studied at the Sorbonne in Paris before eventually settling in Los Angeles and marrying a screenwriter. There are no records of her being registered to vote in L.A. or of having donated to a political campaign. In blog postings and interviews, she describes herself as identifying closely with California, but as being a "world citizen."

In 2010, Getty moved with her husband and two children from Los Angeles to Italy, according to her blog, MyTuscanLife.com. She was somewhat cryptic about the reasons for the move.

"My hubby...and I had planned this move to Tuscany years ago and we had decided on the Summer of 2010 for many reasons, reasons which shall be revealed over time some of which include not wanting to raise our children in Los Angeles (otherwise known as Lala Land)," Getty wrote.

Requests for comment sent to Getty on Wednesday through her website and the Los Angeles-based publicists for her organic lifestyle company were not returned.

While she has been interviewed repeatedly by television outlets, radio stations and magazines to discuss her philosophy of green living, Getty appears to have rarely discussed her views on political matters in public. In 2009, she told Greener Living Today that former Vice President Al Gore was "probably her hero." But last year, Getty suggested she had a political outlook that usually indicates a strong distaste for the tax man.

"I am quite certain that all our politicians are influenced and thwarted by corporate support," she told Southern California Public Radio when asked what question she'd ask a presidential candidate about the environment. "Being a Libertarian, I believe that both parties are basically the same. Neither has the vision, strength to break from those ties."

The Getty family fortune has been estimated at several billion dollars. However, various wills and a trust agreement hashed out in court in the 1980s provide for it to be split among many Getty descendants. It's unclear what share is destined for Anna Getty, who was reportedly adopted by her stepfather after he married Anna's mother, Gisela, in 1974. The couple divorced in 1993.